


Hero

by otomekaidii



Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempt at Humor, Childhood Friends, Coming of Age, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Gender-neutral Reader, Growing Up, Humor, M/M, Other, Reader Is Not MC, Reader-Insert, Reunions, Soft Mammon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, kinda sorta, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:47:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27642974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otomekaidii/pseuds/otomekaidii
Summary: You were only 9 years old when you met Mammon for the first time, and you were convinced he was your guardian angel. You thought you’d get to be with him forever, but things don’t always work out as you’d hope.————Based on the Devilgram “The Guardian Demon”, in which Mammon rescues a human child.Told from the perspective of the child.
Relationships: Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!) & Reader, Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Reader
Comments: 11
Kudos: 84





	1. Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> I know in the Devilgram they specifically state that the child Mammon saves was a little girl, but I have written this as a gender neutral fic to allow anyone to enjoy this story from their own perspective.

**9 years ago**

There wasn’t much that scared you these days. For as long as you could remember, you’ve been dealing with all manner of weirdos and bullies and creeps. It’s the sort of thing that happens when you are living in foster care, especially when you are one of the kids that “falls through the cracks.” 

If someone were to ask you if you were happy with your life, you probably would have said yes. Even though you were currently walking down an unfamiliar street with nothing but a backpack and the clothes you were wearing, it didn’t seem like a bad life to you. It was all you had ever known really, so what did you have to compare it to? 

It’s not that you hadn’t known the comfort of home from time to time. But for one reason or another, you never stayed in one place for long. Sometimes it was because the people there were mean, other times it was because of “grown up reasons” that no one would explain to you. And still there were other times you were pretty sure it was because you had done something wrong. 

Today in fact, was precisely one of those times when you were sure you must have done something, but didn’t really understand what. And the lady you had been living with chased you off, telling you not to come back. You weren't upset though, because you didn’t like her much anyways. Instead, you decided to walk around and see if maybe this time you could find a home for yourself, because surely you couldn’t have worse luck than the foster care system did. 

It was then that you ran into a man as he was leaving a store. You stopped to apologize to him, when he grabbed you by the wrist and started yelling at you. You’ve been yelled at plenty before, but there was just something scary about this guy. You didn’t know what it was about him either, all you knew was that you needed to get away from him and quickly. 

As you struggled against his grip on you, another man approached and tapped him on the shoulder. This man was much different from the first, and even though he glared at the first man in such a way that sent him running, he never seemed scary to you. In fact, it felt like he was an angel - your own personal guardian angel. He didn’t say much to you though, and instead just handed you a wallet that had more money in it than you had ever seen in one place before, and began to walk off.

“Hey mister! Wait!” you yelled as you ran after him. When he turned to face you, you threw your arms around his waist and hugged him as tight as you could.

“You didn’t let me thank you! You’re always supposed to thank someone when they do something nice for you,” you said, as you smiled up at him.

“Hey look kid, I’m glad you’re ok and all...but ya really don’t wanna hang around me,” he said. 

“Let’s get ice cream!” you suggested, “I’ve never had a real ice cream cone before. I can buy you one too. Please?”

The man didn’t know what else to do, so he agreed and you took his hand and started leading him down the street to the ice cream shop you had seen earlier.

“Mister? Do you have a name? I’m MC.”

“Ya don’t need to know that kid.”

“Why not? Should I just call you Mister?”

“Sure, whatever.”

“Do you not have a name? Is that it? I could give you one if you don’t!”

“Huh?! Ya don’t need to go namin’ me. I got a name. Just call me uhh...Mammon.”

“Mammon? That sounds like a weird name.”

“Hey kid! Rude much?”

“Sorry. I’m sure you like it a lot...ooo look! We’re here!” 

You stopped and pointed at the large, 1950s style ice cream parlor on the other side of the street. You had never seen such a wonderful looking place before, and everyone who came out of the shop looked so happy, and carried the most delicious looking ice cream you had ever laid eyes on. 

You tugged on Mammon’s hand and pulled him along, hurrying across the street as fast as you could. You could hear him laughing behind you as he tried to tell you to slow down, but you just flashed him a smile and kept going until you were inside. 

Once you both had received your ice creams, it was Mammon’s turn to take your hand, and he brought you to a nearby park where you could sit on a bench in the shade and enjoy your treat together.

“This is really good Mammon! What flavor did you get? Mines chocolate. I didn’t know I really liked chocolate ice cream before, but I think it’s my favorite,” you said, as you looked up from your ice cream at him. 

“Uh, pistachio I think.” 

“Eww nuts are gross.” 

“Oi! Doesn’t matter what ya think of it. Ya ain’t gonna be eatin’ it.” 

“They’re still gross,” you replied, giggling at Mammon’s answer. 

“So kid, what were ya doin’ out here all alone?” he asked.

“Looking for a new home. The lady I was living with said I couldn’t stay there anymore, so I thought I would find my own place this time,” you replied, continuing to lick your ice cream cone, enjoying how it felt as it melted on your tongue.

“Lady? Ain’t that a little rude to call your mom?”

“But she isn’t my mom. She was just the lady I lived with. I don’t have a mom. Someone told me I used to have a mom once, but I don’t remember that.”

Mammon sat and watched you for a moment as you happily licked at your ice cream, without a care in the world. He really didn’t know what to make of you. You didn’t at all seem concerned with the fact that you had no home to go back to at the moment, and there was no trace of the fear from earlier in your expression. 

You also weren’t scared of him, which he really couldn’t figure out. You had watched him scare that creep off, but you didn’t bat an eye at the face Mammon had made. Instead you had just hugged him and then insisted on buying him an ice cream. 

Mammon glanced at his DDD in his other hand and quickly shot off a text to Lucifer. He knew he couldn’t leave you alone, but he hadn’t the faintest idea on what he was supposed to do with a human child. It’s not like he could just bring them back to the Devildom. And even though you didn’t seem bothered by the idea of living on your own, Mammon knew that wouldn’t be safe for you either. What would you do if that creep came back and he wasn’t around to scare him off again?

As he waited for Lucifer to reply, he started asking you questions about yourself and you of course were more than happy to answer them. As Mammon listened to you talk, it occurred to him that this may have been the first time anyone ever truly listened to you, and he couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for you. He knew all too well what that was like, even if your circumstances were different.

It wasn’t long before you two had started exchanging jokes, and by the time Lucifer had finally responded, you were both laughing and giggling loudly enough that passersby were starting to stare, which only made the two of you laugh even harder. But as the sun started to dip below the Horizon, Mammon knew it was time that he headed back home. 

“Kid, listen, since you were looking for a home an’ all, I talked to my brother and he says he has some friends that you can stay with. What do ya think of that?”

“Why can’t I stay with you?” you asked, as you licked what remained of your ice cream off your fingers.

“Uhh...well...the thing is, I actually have this job see...and I err...travel a lot for work. Plus I don’t know nothin’ about taking care of a kid. I wouldn’t know what to do. So it’s better for ya to go stay with people who know what they’re doin’.”

“Oh. If you don’t like me you could just say. Thanks for the ice cream at least,” you said as you stood up from the bench. 

You had thought that Mammon had been really nice and might want to be your friend, but you guessed at some point you must have done something you shouldn’t have again. You really wished someone would just tell you what you kept doing wrong so you could avoid it. And for some reason you didn’t understand, you were more upset about leaving behind the man you barely knew for 2 hours than you had been at leaving the home of the lady you had lived with for 3 months.

“Woah! Hey! Wait a second kid! That ain’t what I said!”, Mammon yelled after you as he leapt to his feet, “Seriously. Did you not listen? I said I had some friends you could stay with.”

“That’s what they always say though. That I’m going to stay with new friends,” you said. You had started sniffling now, and you were trying really hard not to cry. You knew adults didn’t like it when you cried, and you did not want to give Mammon even more of a reason not to like you. 

Realizing what he had inadvertently said to you, Mammon knelt down in front of you, and took hold of your hands. 

“MC. Look, I’m not good at this stuff, really. I don’t know what other people have said to ya, but these are really friends that my brother knows. I’m not just leavin’ ya behind, ok?” 

You nodded your head before asking him a question, “Do you think you can come visit me? I’ll be really good, I swear.” 

You looked up at Mammon, eyes filled with tears that were threatening to fall any second. Even though he hardly knew you, his heart broke at the sight of it. How many times must you already have said goodbye to people in your short life? And how many of them must have promised to see you again, but never did? He didn’t want to be another one of those people that let you down. Looking at you, he just knew he couldn’t.

“I promise. I’ll come visit,” he said, looking you right in the eyes. No sooner had the words left his mouth than you had wrapped your arms around his neck and started crying into his shoulder. This of course caused Mammon to panic, worried he may have said the wrong thing. But you only laughed at him as he tried to figure out what he had done wrong this time. And soon the two of you were giggling again like you were never upset in the first place. 

You didn’t know why, but you just knew in your heart that Mammon was going to keep his promise to you. Somehow, you knew he was different. 


	2. Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mammon comes back for a visit to see how you’ve been doing in the 2 years since you first met.

For a while, Mammon dropped by on a regular basis. He always seemed a little grumpy when he first arrived, but after you greeted him he’d give you the biggest smile. Whenever he left, you were always sad to seem him go, but you knew it wouldn’t be long before he was back again. 

As time passed, the visits started becoming further and further apart, and there were many nights you found yourself crying because you missed him so much. He was the closest thing to a friend you had, and you couldn’t help but feel lonely without him. 

And before you knew it, it had been a full year since you last saw Mammon, and 2 years since you had first met. But not once did you doubt him. Instead, you eagerly waited for him, day after day. You wrote him letters, and drew him pictures, and even gathered small presents for him you thought he’d enjoy. Anything you could think of that would make him happy to have come back to see you.

The friends of his that you had been living with, you learned, were actually a small coven of witches, something which you honestly found very exciting. The older you got, the more they let you help with their spells and their potions, and the more you started to learn about magic. 

You were taught that everyone was born with some small amount of power within them, but not everyone had access to it. The thought that you might not be one of these sort of people that could use their magical power was really upsetting to you, but the witches assured you that even if that was the case, you could still learn to practice magic with the help of charms and talismans.

When the day finally came for Mammon to visit again, you tackled him in a hug the minute he walked through the door. He looked surprised to see you at first, but it didn’t take him long to recover and hug you back before taking your hand as you gave him a tour of your house. 

“And this is my room!” you said, showing him the loft space where your bed now was. You had never really had your own room before, but the witches had let you decorate this however you wanted and you took full advantage of that in the year since you had last seen him. The walls were covered in your drawings, many of which featured Mammon and the adventures that you had imagined you’d be able to go on one day.

When Mammon saw your art, his heart ached. He knew when he came here today that he had to tell you that he wouldn’t be able to see you for a long time. Part of him had hoped that after a year you might have given up on him somewhat, but it was clear you still trusted him implicitly. He didn’t like the idea of breaking the promise he had made you, but he knew if he kept seeing you like this, you’d only be more disappointed in him when you got older and started to realize he wasn’t who you thought he was. 

“Mammon! Look! These are for you!” you said, as you ran over to where he was sitting on your bed and handed him a large shoe box. 

He was really puzzled at first as to why you’d be giving him new shoes, but when he opened the box and saw the little trinkets, letters, and drawings inside - your gifts to him - it took all his self control to stop from breaking down then and there. 

“Hey, MC, there’s somethin’ I need to talk to you about,” Mammon said, closing the box and setting it to the side. 

You stiffened when you heard him call you by your name, panic starting to rise in your chest. He never called you by your name. You were always “Kid” to him. In fact, the last time he had used your name was 2 years ago when you first met and he had made that promise to always come back and visit you. 

Sitting down on the edge of the bed next to him, you kept your eyes trained on your hands that rested in your lap. You knew this was going to be bad news, and you wondered if maybe you had finally blown it and messed up again. It had been so long since you had that worry, that you were surprised at how painful the thought felt to you. Before Mammon had even started talking, you had already begun to cry silently. 

“I’m, well I’m not gonna be able to visit anymore,” he said, “I’m just gonna be real busy with uhh...work and...stuff.” 

You didn’t respond to him, you couldn’t respond. You didn’t know if you were mad at him for breaking his promise or mad at yourself for ruining things. So you simply sat there and stared at your hands, now balled into fists, as they rested on your thighs. 

Without saying another word, Mammon sighed, and stood up before grabbing the box you had made for him, and turning to leave. Just before he walked away, he ruffled your hair one final time.


	3. Hello

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On your 18th birthday, your coven treats you to your first trip to the Devildom.

**Present Day**

Today, you were excited. It was your 18th birthday, and the witches, now your coven, had prepared a wonderful coming of age celebration for you. After years of practice and study, you had finally managed to harness your own magical powers, a fact that you were extremely proud of, and they had promised that tonight would be the night you’d get to put that knowledge to the test. 

It had been over 6 years by now since you had last seen Mammon. For a long time you had blamed yourself for that, but as you got older, you began to let go of those feelings of shame and guilt. You instead focused all your energy into your magical studies, and the results really spoke for themselves.

As evening rolled around, your coven led you to the woods at the top of the hill behind your house, and showed you how to properly construct, and then open, a portal. This was the first time you would be doing it on your own, and also the first time you would be allowed to enter it. 

You were going to the Devildom.

When you stepped through the portal, the sight absolutely took your breath away. The sky was covered in more stars than you had even seen, and even though it was clearly night time, the moon shone so brightly you didn’t have any trouble at all seeing your surroundings.

Your coven then led you to the main city street where all the finest shops and restaurants were located, and you were given permission to explore so long as you stuck to the main road. You were only too happy to hop from shop to shop on your own, careful to explore every nook and cranny. When you started to grow hungry, you decided to head towards Hell’s Kitchen - a restaurant recommended by the friendly demon who had just sold you the old fashioned cloak you absolutely had to have as a birthday gift for yourself. 

As you made your way down the busy street, a commotion caught your attention in one of the nearby alleyways. Curious what this could be about, you approached for a closer look, and saw a group of several rowdy demons in line outside of what appeared to be a popular party spot, waiting for their turn. 

One demon in particular caught your eyes. Standing there, tanned chest exposed save for the leather studded sleeves, with two magnificent bat-like wings growing from his back, and two beautifully curved horns sprouting from his head, was Mammon. He hadn’t turned to face you yet, but there was no doubt in your mind that’s who it was. His laughter rang out clear as day over all the other voices in the crowd, and you swore your heart was about to stop. 

It wasn’t long before Mammon turned around and locked eyes with you. It took him a moment to fully process what he was seeing. You were a mere child the last time he had seen you. But now you stood before him a fully grown adult, and he hardly recognized you. 

At first, he was elated to finally be seeing you again after all this time, but then he remembered that not only was he in the Devildom, he was also in his demonic form. There was no hiding his identity from you any longer, and his heart sunk. He had tried so hard to keep this a secret from you, because he knew once you found out the truth, you wouldn’t want anything to do with him. You’d know he wasn’t the hero you thought he was.

Just as you were about to step forward and call his name, Mammon slipped through the crowd, desperate to get away from you as quickly as possible. He didn’t want to see the moment when you recognized him and your admiration was sure to turn to disgust. He didn’t think he could bear it. After cutting through several back alleys, he was sure that you could not have followed him, and he took a seat on a nearby bench, resting his head in his hands as he struggled to rein in his emotions. 

You had not been expecting Mammon to make a run for it so soon after noticing you. For a brief moment, that old seed of self doubt that it was perhaps your fault he had left started to take root, but you quickly ripped it out and replaced it instead with anger at being once again left behind. Without any further hesitation, you started after Mammon, weaving through the crowds, following him as best you could. It wasn’t long before you finally reached the park, gasping for breath at how unexpectedly difficult it was to not lose him. 

Seeing him there on that bench, with his head in his hands made your heart ache, and you found your anger dissipating. You weren’t sure what was going on here, but you had a feeling it was about just more than the fact he had seen you again. As you approached, he lifted his head, noticing you, before once again trying to take off - but this time you called out to him. 

“Mammon! Wait! Please!” you begged him, in between ragged breaths. 

He stopped where he stood, but kept his back to you, refusing to look your way. 

“Hey, I just want to talk,” you said.

“What’s there to talk about? Ya know now, right? So there isn’t anythin’ more to say.”

“Know? What am I supposed to know?”, you asked, having been caught completely off guard by his choice of words. You wracked your brain trying to think of what you could have missed or overlooked, but nothing stood out to you. 

“Are ya stupid?! Really?! I’m a demon! I’m not human! Can’t you tell?!”, he whipped around to yell at you, his eyes burning in shame as he fought to keep from further humiliating himself by crying. Why did it have to work out like this? Why couldn’t he just have one person that believed in him? Was that too much to ask? He didn’t think it was, but the universe apparently had other ideas.

“Ok….?”

“What do you mean ‘ok?’ !? Are you such an idiot you don’t even know what a demon is?!”

“Wait, wait, wait…”, something finally started to click for you in regards to what all this was about, and you just had to check to be sure, “...are you upset because I know you’re a demon?”, you asked, taking a few tentative steps forward.

“Of course I am!”, he snapped.

“.......Ppffffftttttt! Hahahahaha! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry but…” you cackled and doubled over in laughter, and try as you might to calm yourself, you just kept laughing harder. 

Mammon meanwhile watched you, his cheeks hot with embarrassment, like you had just lost your damn mind.

“I’m sorry! Really! Ok...phew...I’m good,” you took a few more deep breaths to compose yourself before continuing, “It’s just Mammon...you left me to be raised by witches…” you studied his reaction carefully to see if he was going to pick up on the hint, but it seemed it would probably be best if you just got straight to the point, “I’ve known you were a demon since I was 9 years old….practically since the day we met.”

If you thought his cheeks had been red before, that was nothing compared to the scarlet shade they were now as realization started to dawn on him...he left you with witches. Of course. HE LEFT YOU WITH WITCHES. Why wouldn’t they teach you about magic and demonology? How could you have possibly been raised in such an environment and NOT known about demons? It would have been impossible to avoid. 

And not only that...you were currently chatting with him in the Devildom. You were surrounded by demons, and didn’t seem the least bit bothered by it either. Additionally you had to have gotten here somehow, so there was a good chance you had some magical aptitude of your own you had developed over the years.

To say he felt foolish right now would have been the understatement of the millennia. The only thing left to do was laugh at himself, because if he didn’t he’d probably just start crying. As soon as you saw him laughing, you closed the rest of the distance between the two of you, standing face to face with him for the first time in way too long. 

“Hi Mammon. Can I buy you some ice cream?”


End file.
